Real Madrid prepares for yet another El Clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu after a disappointing 3-0 loss on Wednesday night against Barcelona saw them eliminated from the Copa del Rey. Now, they have a chance for some redemption as they face each other in La Liga.
Los Merengues continue a very difficult week as they take on the Catalans yet again tonight before preparing for their match against Ajax on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League.
A win tonight could prove to be vital in the league race as it will bring them six points behind Barcelona who are the current league leaders and it will make things a lot more interesting between now and the end of the season.
A loss would all but confirm that Los Blancos will not win the title this season.
After their Copa del Rey elimination, manager Santiago Solari should have put emphasis on the teams second half performances as this isn’t the first time we saw them dominate the first 45 minutes before coming out after half-time to crumble in front of their opponents. Finishing was a massive issue last Wednesday and hopefully, we’ll see some balls actually find the back of the net this time around.
“We have scored goals, not in the last match but in the previous ones, and a lot. A team always wants to score as many goals as possible and that the opponent doesn’t score. The other day some of the shots that didn’t go in, should have. That’s football and that’s the way it is. We have another opportunity tomorrow to score those that didn’t go in the other day” Solari said in his press conference when asked about the lack of goals against Barcelona and during the season at times.
📝 Our 21-man squad for the league #RMClasico! #RMLiga pic.twitter.com/DTUGEYrWFn
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) March 1, 2019
The squad list is actually very hopeful for Real Madrid as they are able to count on everyone except for Nacho Fernandez who is suspended after his red card against Levante and Marcos Llorente who is still recovering from injury.
Alvaro Odriozola and Brahim Diaz are both healthy scratches. Raphael Varane was a doubt after he hurt his knee in the last game but he’s fit to play while Isco finally makes the squad list after his return from injury, but it remains to be seen what part he would play in the team.
When looking at a predicted lineup, this is a very difficult one to call since Solari could want to shake things up a little bit given that the Ajax game on Tuesday is very important.
Personally, I see Solari going all in for this match and taking that risk that some players may be tired against Ajax.
Predicted Starting Lineup:
Thibaut Courtois, Daniel Carvajal, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Reguilon, Carlos Casemiro, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Lucas Vazquez, Vinicius Junior, Karim Benzema